abysmo said on November 28, 2008 11:23:

I love new album, it’s something I was waiting for since 2001, maybe since 1999. It’s not guitar poprock with danceable parts, it’s danceable synth pop with rocky parts. But it’s so fresh, melodic, modern, driving and dynamic. And very compact. If you ask me, if you add guitars and orchestra in ballads (and remove reggae), this could be new sound of Roxette. Best album for years, for sure.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

RoxRoom.wz.cz

animalkingdom said on November 28, 2008 11:48:

@ above

Haha, Gut Feeling is, for me, the worst song on the album. It’s very GT, who I never really liked that much.
I think the album needs a few listens to grow on you. It certainly isn’t Per at his best but it has its gems.
My favourites, at the moment, are Stuck Here With Me and I Didn’t Mean To Turn You On.
The latter has really taken off on me!

On a scale of 0-5, I give Party Crasher 3,5.

bevi said on November 28, 2008 12:48:

I agree completly with “Room_service” opinion.
I think this is his best album since Mazarin (that is still my favourite one). I also think that the ballads are not as good as the up-tempo songs though they are completly necessary.
In my opinion:

The best:
Gut Feeling
Sing along
Kissing Is The Key
Hey, I Died And Went To Heaven
Doesn’t Make Sense
I’m Glad You Called
Perfect excuse (though I wouldn’t include it as one of his best songs ever written as Per said few days ago)
Theme From Roberta Right (i love this one since first time I listened to it)

The weakest:
Breathe Life Into Me (that reggae..)
I Didn’t Mean To Turn You On
Stuck here with me (the worst in my opinion)

Then “The party Pleaser” , “Thai with a twist” are quite good too. And “Silly Really” of course is pretty good too..so i would give it a 4,5 out 5.

chrisjankunas said on November 28, 2008 14:43:

Here’s my list based upon the first couple of days:

1. Kissing Is The Key
2. Gut Feeling / Doesn’t Make Sense / The Party Pleaser
3. I Didn’t Mean To Turn You On
4. Sing along / Perfect excuse
5. Theme From Roberta Right / Silly Really / Thai with a twist
6. Hey, I Died And Went To Heaven
7. I’m Glad You Called

Not sure about these two, yet:

8. Breathe Life Into Me
9. Stuck here with me

Album 3.5 - 4 out of 5. I think I’m going to like it alot !!!

@AnimalKingdom - whilst Im not very keen on Stuck Here With Me atm, I love I Didnt Mean To Turn You On. I Didnt think I would, ha ha.

Also, whilst I’ve liked Helena on all Per’s recent albums - I think she sounds amazing here !! I really dont mind when her voice suddenly appears over Pers - probablly in the parts where Per didnt sound too good, ha ha ha. J/K. But I think they work together really well on this album ! Good stuff !!

rossyrox said on November 28, 2008 15:55:

I had an email this mornign from Megastore stating they have just shipped my CD today! Pathetic.

Rox_Nox2003 said on November 28, 2008 18:48:

I personally am not dissapointed for one very clear reason: this is first and foremost a “Per Gessle Solo” record .. so therefore the “Roxette sounding vibes and hints” that uncounsciously or not are always in the back of our mind when a solo Per record is released don’t have to be there. We always end up wanting to find them somewhere along the way and if we don’t, then we won’t be able to enjoy it ... if we do then we will like it ... BUT at the very end .. only a few will enjoy a record like this for being what it is - a Per solo record. It’s a natural I presume as we all grew up following Roxette and that following leads us to find what Per and Marie do solo ... but yes it has been more than obvious specially in recent years that the so called “Roxette trademark” whatever that may be ... does not figure in such an evident way in these recordings ... You may find a bit here and there but not as wholesome.

I have to say for myself that I am also easilly captures by the “Rox” vibe thing and I did find it here as well on two particular songs “Silly Really” and “Died And Went To Heaven” ... the so called Gessle/Roxettish melodic uptempo type of melody and the so called traditional IMHBL chorus arrangement on the ballad ... but apart from that everything else is pure solo Per (with eventual connections to GTyder as well).

I may also have to let the album grown on me for me to learn to appreciate the rest of it besised the ones that struck me from the very start ... but seriously I find this record highly more apreciatable than previosu EHM and SOP ... even Marazin is superior to these 2 ones (according to me obviously). So why I would give 2 stars to the previous ones PC gets 3.5 ... and maybe it will get 4 depending on this records grows on me.

I first thought this record would be slashed for bering so “synth” oriented bringing back memories of the backlash many more conservative Roxette fans brought with the 1999 HAND album ... yet ... Per made it so well enough to be so different in its majority that it’s an album of its own without having to be connected to prior records. I like that sense of pureness so that “copy pasting” can be avoided ... therefore Gessle deserves all credit for that. At the end of the day it’s nothing but “liking or not liking” and being able to feel something coming out from it.

One very big shout out for Helena... it does not matter if for a Per Gessle record her voice is too “much” featured. But I loved it it gave an even more emotional touch and vunerability to the recording through her vocals. Something that Marie also would have done in her own way of course. So it wasn’t surprising to me to be jealous that “Heaven” wasn’t sung by Marie making this ballad an even more obvious “Roxettish” song.

I just wonder to what point will these recordings influence an eventual future Roxette album? It has always been like that ever since ... HAND had something from Marie’s Tro and Per’s World ... OW and Reveal were also strongly influenced by the sound Per was working on at the time during his solo records of those years so ... what else is to come!

ncurran said on November 28, 2008 22:06:

mine just arrived today and got it when i came home from work. Just had a chance to listen to it once as I had to go out for a xmas meal with some people from my dept. Have returned now, but am a little drunk so will post in more detail tomorrow, but on the first listen i was on the whole VERY impressed. My favourite Gessle solo release for years, possibly ever. Some low points, but overall very good.

Roxerally said on November 28, 2008 23:04:

I am not overly keen on hearing it after a few plays but that could be just because at the moment I am pretty much not really interested in anything...

I do tend to skip to the following songs which I like:-

The Party Pleaser
Kissing Is The Key
Gut Feeling
Theme From Roberta Right

And Hey, I Died And Went To Heaven just made me cry...

I do like Helena’s contribution though!

Maybe when I cheer up a little I might find the Gessle love again, hell I can’t even smile at the Mamma Mia adverts on TV at the moment...

James_Earp said on November 30, 2008 18:57:

I think the CD is great. It is in line with Mazarin and Son of a Plumber, 4 out of 5. But I do not understaand everybody who says that it sounds like Roxette....ok some songs do like gut feeling and Silly really but many of them does not sound like roxette at all to me...stuck here with me, breathe life into me, hey i died and went to heaven...to me the CD feels very new and fresh!

The best songs (at this point)
Silly Really, Stuck here with me, Gut feeling, Thai with a twist and I didn´t mean to turn you on

I think kissing is the key and breath life into me has to “grow” before I really can enjoy them....

dubacik said on December 1, 2008 18:43:

I have to say that I needed to hear the album 3 times to realise that this is really Per’s best solo album in english. OK, he had actually only 3 (incl. SOAP) but this one is fantastic. Helena is singing well even if in some songs I “hear” Maries voice. The absolutely one of the best songs is “Doesn’t make sense”. Felt in love with this song like with “Tycker om när du tar på mig”.
Hope Per will not regret and he will make club tour in Europe next year. Would be great to see him also outside Sweden.
——————————————
If we changed it back, things would never be the same

Roxwriter said on December 1, 2008 22:39:

Ok, so my CD finally arrived in Sydney Australia. And what a shame it didn’t get eaten by a croc on it’s way in :-)

This album blows.

Firstly, I agree with what someone else wrote that they felt they bought the album under false pretenses... the album’s called “Party Crasher” and it’s filled with ballads. Crappy ones at that.

Secondly. Helena. I never understood why everyone ripped into her so much. But I get it now. She’s essentially a backing vocalist who got to sing a few leads and she really stinks. She’s got this whole “four year old girl vibe asking for a candy” and it grates after the first few micro-seconds.

As for the Ballad Crasher tracks, well Party Pleaser is an obvious “Roxette-should’ve-been” with Marie on the chorus. Silly Really is wonderful and Doesn’t Make Sense could’ve been perfect if not for the RETARDED abrupt ending. There’s no art in that ending. There’s no creativity in that idea... it’s downright stupid, sort of like the ending to Half a Woman Half a Shadow. A really crap idea.

The problem is, during Per’s absence (last stuff I had access to was SOAP) I moved on to some other new albums from some amazing singer/songwriters. So when it came time to listen to Per’s new material it was sort of like being 30 years old and watching that Disney film you loved as a kid... kinda nostalgic but you see it for what it is... childish non-sense.

It’s hard when you’ve progressed as a listener and then going back to “womanzier, tranquilizer” etc.

Ditch the PLETHORA of ballads, ditch Helena and he may have something there. Overall, WAY TOO MUCH FILLER on what could’ve been an interesting album. Good on Per for working for his fans though, that’s an AWESOME LUCKY aspect we fans have, he keeps on giving, so I totally appreciate that... but give me the raw sounds of Mazarin over this any day.

Oh yeah, I really hate how Party Pleaser sounds a lot like “Knock on Wood”, a disco track I loathe!

Good luck Per, hope it all goes well abroad... and sweet jesus do I miss Marie Fredriksson’s raw sultry vocals belting out a good ol’ melody... really makes me appreciate Marie’s voice now.

Cheers.

Roxwriter said on December 2, 2008 22:33:

Thanks Kiwein1 although I’ve got no idea what “Sen vill man glömma några T Rex-pastischer på den här skivan och i stället lyfta fram Helena Josefsson, som blivit allt viktigare för Gessle. En ersättare för Marie Fredriksson, som tar allt större plats. Med rätta.” means :)

Roxwriter said on December 3, 2008 00:25:

You’re right. Sorry.

Helena strikes me as a lovely, sweet, genuine sweetheart. She as a human being definitely DOES NOT stink.

Her singing on this record STINKS to high heaven though.

Cheers for the correction ;-)

Roxwriter said on December 4, 2008 02:19:

Thanks for the character assessment Room Service. I’ll file that away in the “I couldn’t give a rats ass file”.

Peace!

Claire said on December 4, 2008 09:34:

i am 50-50 on the album at the minute but the songs i do like i REALLY like.
the best (off the top of my head in no order)

Party Pleaser
Silly Really
the last one.... this is the current fave
Kissing is the Key
Perfect Excuse... another fave

i do kinda like the stuck here with me song and its kinda cool to hear Per changing style. the worst songs on the album are the GT-esque songs!
i have to agree that some of these songs would be great Rox tracks although I like Helena.

one last remark on the singalong song.... i love the verse and then have to fast forward when the chorus arrives (strange for a gessle song!)

mareo said on December 5, 2008 11:22:

I like the album (a new and different sound, so it’s welcome) and have definitely my favourits now:
- Gut feeling
- Sing along
- I didn’t mean to turn you on
- The party pleaser

greg-b said on December 7, 2008 17:05:

Hi Everybody!
The album is perfect bubble-gum-pop! and you can listen the new version of “Ska vi alska” GT-hit in Party Pleaser track... :) really interesting

Roxwriter said on December 13, 2008 00:52:

The album has grown on me. I think Sing Along should’ve been a Rox-hit.

It’s good, too many ballads though. Breathe Life Into Me is a constant “skipper”. In fact I’ve re-burnt the CD to drop that off the playlist and added Roberta.

I like Stuck Here with Me and Doesn’t Make Sense is brilliant.

Overall, not bad. Needs more than a dozen listens to get it... odd for a pop album.